As I Iay awake early Wednesday morning, realizing, among other things, that I wasn’t going to use the humorous post I had prepared last week for today, I found myself enumerating some of the things children’s books convey to their readers. I ticked them off like a flock of sheep: hope, perseverance and resilience in the face of adversity, appreciation of differences, receiving comfort from others, standing up to bullies and for your beliefs, learning from mistakes, absorbing and moving on from misfortune, going to sleep at bedtime after a story. That kindness, empathy, sacrifice, and generosity of spirit, matter.
Another book lesson came to me, that some things matter more than others. When I first read Harriet the Spy I was 10, and loved it so much, I cried out against the ending. “Ole Golly is right, Sometimes you have to lie.” I didn’t want that to be so. When I read the book again three years later I saw that it was wise and true. Friendship was a matter of adjustment. Doing that which is most important matters and getting books into the hands and hearts of children matters deeply.
If Diogenes had used a children’s book instead of a lamp he might have had more luck finding decency in people. We know where to look.